ZIM vs OMA | Twitter in awe as Muzarabani leads impressive bowling show to help Zimbabwe thrash Oman

Venkateswaran N

ByVenkateswaran N,SportsCafe Editor

9

Zimbabwe beat Oman by eight wickets in their opening Group B match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in Colombo on Monday. Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava and Brad Evans all picked up three wickets to skittle out Oman for 103 before Brain Bennett and Brendan Taylor made light work of the chase.

Zimbabwe cricket team celebrates a wicket against Oman in their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 opener in Colombo.
‌Zimbabwe could not have asked for a better start to their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign as they beat Oman by eight wickets in a Group B encounter in Colombo on Monday. The pace trio of Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava and Brad Evans picked up three wickets each to blow Oman away for a paltry score before Brian Bennett led the chase with a breezy knock to help Zimbabwe go past the target and end at 106/2 with more than six overs to spare.

After being put in to bat at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Oman were immediately pushed to the backfoot by an impressive display with the new ball from Muzarabani and Ngarava. The former struck with his first ball to go through the defence of Jatinder Singh before Ngarava removed Hammad Mirza in the next over. The lanky Muzarabani breathed fire picking up two more wickets in his next over as the batting unit ended the powerplay at a sorry-looking 23/4. The batting side found themselves in a deep hole with captain Sikandar Raza bringing himself on, after the fields spread, to pick up another wicket in his very first over. However, Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shukla steadied the ship with a 42-run stand for the sixth wicket. Vinayak top scored for the side with a knock of 28 off 21 balls, which included four boundaries, while Sufyan supported with a patient knock of 25. But another collapse in the lower middle order, including the wickets of both set batters, saw them slip to 76/8. However, Nadeem Khan (20) saved the side from further embarrassment, taking them past the three-figure mark to end at 103 with a ball to spare. Muzarabani was definitely the pick among the bowlers with a fiery spell of 3/17 in four overs, while Ngarava and Evans ran through the middle and lower order with three wickets each.

The chase started on expected lines with Tadiwanashe Marumani smashing four boundaries off Shakeel Ahmed in the second over after the restart. Soon, Brian Bennett also joined in with boundaries off pacer Shah Faisal as the African nation powered to 30 in the first three overs. But Oman fought back with Sufyan picking up two wickets in his first over to give a scare to the batting unit. However, Bennett and the experienced Brendan Taylor calmed things down in the middle as the side ended the powerplay at 43/2. The pair ran between the wickets well and also pulled off the odd boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking and eased the pressure. But Taylor (31) could not stay till the end after a quick double saw him pull his hamstring before hobbling back to the pavilion to end the 68-run stand. His partner Bennett, however, remained unbeaten on 48 from 36 balls, hitting seven fours, while Raza finished proceedings in style, with a boundary. Meanwhile, Sufyan remained the only Oman bowler to pick up a wicket ending with figures of 2/12 in three overs.

ZIM beat OMA

Victory!

Well played!

Perfect Start

Real Superman

Blinder!

POTM

Yeah!

Absolute Fire

What a over!

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

0/1000

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments